Summary: Takes place around December time of 2013 and throughout various intervals of 2014. Just a few ministories of how various team members joined. Yeah, it's a pretty big time-jump, but I did say I wanna start moving a bit faster. I may be moving a bit too fast going into these next few chapters, but I'll try my best to keep a good pace. I didn't wanna oversaturate the book with fluff, so I guess this is my way of moving through the timeline without having 3-4 different chapters all focused on introducing new team members.
Disclaimer: I don't own DC
Wonder Girl, December 2013:
"Recognized, Wonder Girl, B-10." Donna emerged from the golden light as Dick helped her haul her luggage through. For nearly a year at this point she had been trying to get Roy Harper to abandon his godforsaken quest to find his genetic template, and after their latest argument she had finally seen the futility in her ways. Roy had no intention of backing out of his mission until his template had been found, and Donna couldn't exactly fix things with him since it appeared that he was hooking up with Cheshire, something she would have to tell Artemis about. Needless to say, she was very annoyed with the archer. Her best friend was there for her, as usual, and he had offered her a place on the team, seeing as how they had so much fun last time. She eventually accepted-Diana had helped Dick convince her-and so she had decided to move into the cave.
"Quite a step up from the apartment Diana helped me get."
"Jeez, you have almost as much stuff as Zee."
"So, uh, do I get a room?"
"Yeah. I had Connor set it up earlier. You'll be next to Wally, uh, sorry about that."
"I thought Wally stayed with his parents?"
"Uh...y-yeah...h-he likes to stay the night with Arty. I, uh, I d-do the same w-with Zee." Donna let a gentle smirk approach her face before Dick brought her to the monitor room where everyone met her with a surprise party.
The team was overjoyed to see Donna. Gar had seen her on the news, so of course he nearly passed out at the sight of her. Dick was also convinced he had a crush on her due to his blush and uncharacteristic nervousness around her, which he would definitely be using to troll the two later. Connor got along with her particularly well, maybe because of the closeness of their mentors. Dick even saw the two of them arm-wrestle; Connor just barely won. Of course, she instantly hit it off with Megan, Raquel, Arty, and Zatanna. The girls practically dragged her over to the corner to start their weird little gossiping session as they occasionally looked to or laughed at one of the boys. She, Dick, Wally, and Kal went way back, so there was less need for introductions in that department, but she seemed even more comfortable with the girls than she did with Dick. Almost made him a bit jealous. Damn, she rarely ever gossips with ME that eagerly. Diana and Bruce even stopped by to welcome her in, and after the party, Dick approached her, seeing how she had finally escaped the girls. "So, good kidnapping?" Donna looked at him, confused. Wait, wrong line.
"What?" Dick rubbed the back of his neck, realizing that she didn't understand his and Zatanna's strange language.
"Uh, n-nothing. Sorry, force of habit. How'd you like the party?" Donna smiled.
"Great! You were right, I missed this. Being on a team, having real friends, almost as good as the old Squad. Almost." Dick knew what she was talking about when she looked down with a hint of sadness.
"Hey, don't worry about Roy. He's obviously going through some crap right now, leave him to it. I-I tried to reach out to him, too. We talked, but he was really hung up on the whole 'real Roy Harper' bullshit. Trust me, I'm just as annoyed as you are, but he'll come around." Donna rubbed the back of her head.
"Y-you know he's hooking up with Cheshire now, right?" Dick nodded, having expected as much. So THAT'S why Arty almost passed out earlier. Heh, guess she wasn't expecting that.
"Yeah, but don't worry about it. From my experience, things usually work out pretty whelmingly in this department. Just be patient and give him a chance. He'll come to his senses sooner or later." Donna ruffled his hair before pulling him into a headlock.
"Dating Zatanna really did make you overly sappy. God, I can barely recognize you, what did that girl do to you?" Dick sputtered a bit and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Sh-shut up! L-last time I ever t-try to h-help you with this sorta stuff." Donna laughed as they walked out of the monitor room to set up her bedroom.
Tempest and Aquagirl, February 2014:
Kaldur was on edge, and pretty much everyone could tell. Aquaman had announced to the team earlier today that he would be inviting two of his pupils, Garth and Tula, to the team. Everyone knew they were Kaldur's best friends outside the team, and Dick, Wally, Donna, and Raquel knew that Tula was an old flame of his that he never truly let go. Dick had heard of her and Garth hooking up, and it annoyed him a bit to think about. Those two getting together violates like every law in the best-bro guidebook. Okay, MAYBE Kal and Tula never hooked up so she was fair game, but c'mon! If Wally got together with Zee...Dick shuddered at the very thought of something so absurd. Okay, let's NEVER think of that again. Pretty sure I would have broken Bats' no kill rule if he laid a finger on her.
The two Atlanteans Zeta'd in together around lunchtime, and immediately Raquel felt as if she were at odds with Tula. She knew it was silly, Tula seemed like a nice girl, but she also knew that Kaldur had feelings for the girl that had never truly left, she could tell just from the way he looked every time she was mentioned. It rubbed her the wrong way, knowing she was Kal's second choice, they would definitely be talking about it later. She didn't want to be a runner up for someone else, she wanted to be his soulmate, which she presently was not. Rocky tensed up when Kaldur greeted her, almost wanting to take out her belt and blast the redhead with a force bubble. She eventually caught herself fuming when Kaldur introduced Tula to her.
"This is Raquel. She is...very special to me." Raquel felt the corners of her mouth twitch up a bit when she heard that. Okay, so maybe I'm not completely irrelevant.
"Oh, yes, this is your girlfriend! You told us of her! So good to finally meet you!" Raquel couldn't help but smile at the warm greeting. She had a feeling that even if she were competing with Tula for Kal's attention, the two of them would be good friends.
Garth was busy conversing with the others as Tula and Raquel were chatting up a storm. Dick, Megan, and Artemis had met the two of them on a prior mission to Atlantis that Kaldur had taken them on, Dick remembered it so specifically because his underwater birdsuit had been damaged during the mission to the point where he almost drowned. Zatanna had very nearly lost her head when Artemis told her what had happened to him, and he was pretty sure she threatened to magically bind him to the bed to force him to get rest. He also remembers making a joke about Zee's obsession with bondage, resulting in him ending up on the receiving end of a pretty nasty glare from a red-faced, very flustered magician.
Everyone got to know and became relatively good friends with the new recruits. Megan had already planned to have a double date with them. Of course, Tula was immediately inducted into the girls' gossiping club, and Raquel seemed perfectly okay with that considering she was the one who invited her to it. Garth became fast friends with Gar of all people, which confused Dick to no end because they seemed to have so little in common. Towards the end of the party, Dick noticed Raquel clinging a bit more than normal to Kaldur, and he felt a bit bad about their situation since neither of them were in the wrong. It was clear Kaldur did enjoy Raquel's presence, but he still had feelings for Tula, who didn't even know he wasn't over her and was dating his best friend. It was a complicated mess to say the least. Dick decided that their relationship was none of his business and he shouldn't intervene, but he still couldn't help but hope they turned out okay since he had seen the fallout of a breakup this major once before, with Roy and Donna, and he really didn't want to see it again.
Starfire, July 2014:
The team had been deployed to a strange alien attack in the Gobi Desert. Not the most pleasant of places for them to be fighting, but in any case, here they were. Once the team arrived, they looked up to see a female, orange alien with glowing green eyes and long red hair flying around shooting green fireballs at other, far uglier aliens. The girl was hardly clothed, certainly not suited for proper battle, so Dick assumed she had some sort of invulnerability or healing factor to protect her in battle. He also couldn't deny that she was rather attractive, though obviously he didn't care much for that since he had Zatanna.
The girl took a rather heavy hit from a larger alien, and the team jumped in to help her. Wally looked confused.
"How do we know she's the good guy?" Donna whacked him on the back of the head before she and Connor flew in to take on the bigger guy, and he shrugged. "Yeah, the fact that she's hot has nothing to do with it." The alien started yelling a strange dialect at the others while pointing to the portal in the sky. Definitely not a Boom Tube, so what is it? And what the hell's she saying?! Garth, Tula, and Kaldur used hydrokinesis to fend off some of the bigger brutes while Robin, Zatanna, and Megan helped her deal with the more armored ones. She turned to Dick, yelling her dialect straight at him, and he just shrugged.
"I don't know what that means!" The alien groaned before flying up and releasing a blinding explosion of green energy, devastating the hordes of aliens. Unfortunately, more seemed to be coming out of the portal, and she turned to the team once more, yelling her unrecognizable dialect. Zatanna looked at the portal.
-I think I could shut it down. Cover me while I get the spell ready- Artemis and Rocket did as she asked, keeping her safe whilst she floated in midair and prepared her spell. Zee's eyes started to glow golden-yellow, and her hair started to float as she muttered the backwards incantation to close the portal. The portal slowly dissipated, leaving only the orange girl, as the others had left to retreat while the way back was open. Zee landed on her feet, wobbling a bit from having exerted so much energy on the spell, and Dick was quick to hold and help stabilize her. The alien girl landed, and it was at this point Dick realized how tall she was. He himself had grown quite a bit, almost as tall as all the other boys, who were more or less the same height. He was a whole head taller than Zee at this point, coming in at the same height as Artemis. However, this girl was several inches taller than Kaldur, who was the largest of the group, and she seemed to tower over Dick. To say it intimidated the Boy Wonder was an understatement. Not to mention the crazy, fire-red hair that seemed to be glowing or the green eyes that were actually glowing. She said something in the alien dialect from before, and the team groaned out of annoyance. Wally stepped forward.
"Uh, sorry to break it to you lady, but we can't understand a word you're saying." Zatanna cocked her head to the side.
"I could try a translation spell." The alien groaned before walking up to the closest person, who happened to be Dick, and pulling him in for a hot-blooded kiss. Dick gasped and tensed up at the action, initially too stunned to pull away. She forced her tongue into his mouth, making rather harsh contact with his own. The whole team's eyes went wide, and Zatanna clenched her fist and growled, walking up to them whilst throwing her a vicious glare. Dick tried to pull away, but her grip was rather firm. A very pissed-off-looking Zee reached the two just as the girl had broken off, yanking Dick away by his cape rather forcefully. Okay, what just happened?! I am 3 seconds away from magicing your alien ass halfway across the galaxy, uoy elttil eceip fo-
"Apologies for any discomfort, I can explain." Everyone gaped at her sudden ability to speak English, and she noticed this, continuing. "My name is Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, and...well, it is a rather long story. My people have the unique ability to learn any language through contact of lips. I didn't mean to intrude or cause any displeasure to any of you. I simply needed to learn English. I also learned Romanian, Russian, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish-you speak a lot of languages." Dick rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He had learned Romanian from his parents, the others from Bats, and he was still learning Italian. Zatanna was teaching him Italian in their spare time when they weren't busy making out with one another. The magician's glare softened a bit once she heard Kory's excuse. Okay, that explains it. But there's 5 boys here, and you choose MY boyfriend. Then again, I guess he IS the best looking option, but...we are SO not done with this!
The team took her back to the cave once Megan determined she was no threat, and once they arrived, she explained her backstory. "Growing up, my sister, Komand'r, was very jealous of me. I was always the favorite child to them, and she knew it. Komi hated me, and my parents, but recently she has been fed up with it. She staged a coup...locked up my parents in the dungeons before outcasting me and sending an army of soldiers to eliminate me. I used one of Tamaran's high-frequency teleportation devices to get here, but they followed after me. Komi had given instructions to kill me. And that is where I am now." Megan and Tula comforted Kori when she let a few tears fall upon reminiscing on what had happened, but she quickly got ahold of herself. "I know you barely know me, and you have no reason to say yes...but I was wondering...would it be alright if I stayed here?" Kaldur stepped forward, extending a hand.
"You have been through a most traumatic event, and while we cannot truly relate to your struggle, we can certainly offer you a home, and a place on our team should you wish to help others." Kori smiled before shaking Kal's hand. Wally grinned.
"Yeah. Besides, not exactly anywhere else you could go." Donna once again whacked the back of his head for his unthoughtful remark.
"How would you like to join us, use your talents in the service of others?"
"I would like that. On Tamaran, I was part of the royal army. I am no stranger to conflict. It would be nice...helping others. I believe I would like it." The team introduced themselves and conversed with her for a while, getting to know their new teammate, and Dick and Zee both began to ease in her presence. Everyone was quick to welcome and befriend the girl, she seemed almost as sweet as Megan. Donna especially seemed entertained by the new girl. Zatanna was still a bit annoyed from earlier, and Kory noticed this, walking up to her after everyone else had disbanded. "Hello, Z-Zatanna, is it?" She nodded. "I am sorry about earlier. I had no ill intent towards you or Robin. I simply needed to communicate, and he was the closest to me." Zee nodded.
"I-it's fine."
"I understand he is your mate?" Zee visibly blushed.
"M-my mate?!" Okay, THAT sounds weird. "W-well, we're dating, so I g-guess."
"Oh, my apologies. I presumed him to be your betrothed." Zee's cheeks were practically on fire when she heard that, and she let out a nervous cough.
"Wh-what?! N-no, we're not m-married! W-we're, like, 16!" Kory raised an eyebrow, as if it were normal to be engaged as a minor.
"Is that not normal? On Tamaran, it is customary to marry at a young age. I, myself, was betrothed at the age of 14." Zatanna coughed a bit more, her face now redder than Kory's hair.
"N-no! Um, h-here things are a b-bit different. W-we date to see i-if we like each other. M-m-marriage doesn't come for a looong time." Zatanna was incredibly flustered with the very notion of marrying Dick, though she would be lying if she said it wasn't something she hoped might happen one day. Kory nodded, letting a small smile form.
"Well, if it is any consolation, I can tell you are quite close to one another. Perhaps marriage isn't as far as you think it is." Zee was practically a tomato at this point, but she couldn't help the smile that traced over her face.
"I-If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your...guy." Kori frowned.
"He...fell in combat against an invading army. We weren't all that close, but it still stung. It is alright, though. I have had ample time to get over it." Zatanna nodded before hastily changing the subject. The two talked a bit longer until Kory decided to explore her new home, and Zatanna went off to find Dick, who was in his room working on something.
"Hey. What's u-" Zee rather forcefully mashed her lips onto his, not unlike how Kory had done earlier, and a rather perplexed Dick stiffened up before reciprocating it. They broke off for air only to find that Zee was practically in his lap at this point, though neither minded. "What was that for?"
"I-I'll tell you later." Dick smiled before pulling her in for another embrace.
Sorry about no post yesterday, the site was actually down for most of the day so I couldn't even access my account. It was pretty annoying. Anyways, feel free to leave comments or suggestions for chapters you wanna see. Next chapter up soon.